Boeing has notched up a further 100 commitments for its revamped 737 MAX, lifting the total to 700 spread between nine customers as it narrows this year's gap with European rival Airbus, the head of its commercial division said. Boeing has not yet secured firm orders for the 737 MAX, an updated version of its best-selling model with new engines due to enter service in 2017, but hopes to have some firm contracts as well as further provisional orders by end-year or early next.
--- Boeing sees Gulf interest in revamped 737
"We have got commitments for over 700 aircraft so we think the customers like what we are doing and we continue to talk to additional customers," James Albaugh, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes told a group of journalists on Saturday. Boeing said in late October it had 600 draft commitments.
Powered by more efficient engines burning less fuel, the 737 MAX and Airbus' rival A320neo models mark an attempt by the planemakers to defend their roughly equal share of the narrowbody segment, expected to produce $2 trillion in total sales over 20 years. Strategy battles over a cash-generating part of the business which is eyed by new competitors such as China and Canada have dominated the aviation industry for months.
From Sunday, the contest comes to the Dubai Air Show where Airbus is expected to announce orders of some 100 A320neos and Boeing executives said they were talking to flyDubai and Oman Air who had expressed interest in the 737 MAX. Airbus decided to spruce up its 150-seat mid-haul passenger jet a year ago by promising 12-15 percent fuel savings with new engines. After pondering whether to leapfrog Airbus with a more radical but costlier redesign, Boeing followed suit in August.
Boeing plans to sell the more efficient 737 MAX for more than the $81 million list price of the current 737 model. Boeing is talking to Oman Air and budget carrier flydubai as potential customers for its revamped 737 MAX jetliner, company executives said on Saturday.
Speaking on the eve of the Dubai Air Show, Boeing officials said demand in the Middle East remained robust despite unease over the economy as airlines seek to reduce operating costs by buying fuel-efficient aircraft. "We are talking to flydubai and Oman Air about the 737 MAX. We have had a lot of detailed discussions with flydubai, which is part of the normal process of getting a customer's input into development," Marty Bentrott, senior vice-president for international sales, told a news conference.
Boeing is fitting its best-selling 737 medium-haul jet with new engines to reduce fuel consumption and compete with a hot-selling version of the competing Airbus model called the A320neo. It is also showing off its new 787 Dreamliner for the first time at the biennial show after the fuel-saving carbon-fibre passenger jet went into service in Japan earlier this month.